Waistband construction foil



p 1, 1942. E. A. DE ROSE 2,294,365

WAISTBAND CONSTRUCTION FOR GARMENTS Filed June 9, 1941 W-MfW M ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 1, 1942 WA'ISTBAND CONSTRUCTION FOR GARMENTS Ernest A. De Rose, Mount Vernon, N. Y. Application June 9, 1941, serial No. 397,173

4 Claims.

This invention relates to wearing apparel and relates more particularly to garments, such as trousers, slacks, shorts, skirts, bathing trunks and the like.

Most ready-to-wear and custom garments of the above types are provided with pleats or pleated portions which must be taken into account during the designing, cutting and other steps of manufacture of the garment. In order to provide for such pleats it is necessary to design the patterns and cut the fabrics in such ways that the pleats may be of the proper proportions and in the desired positions. It will be apparent that the above-described operations require considerable designing and cutting skill and introduce some rather serious problems, particularly in the production of ready-to-wear garments. For example, in pleated trousers, the pleats must be accurate in position, size, in their relation to each other and to the waistband of the garment. So long as it is possible to provide such trousers in the proper sizes, no difficulty is encountered. However, when the size of the waistband must be increased or decreased, some of the pleats must be removed or altered to conform to the change in the waistband, thereby necessitating an almost complete remaking of the upper portion of the garment.

Likewise when taking up or letting out the waistband of trousers having pleats therein, the relative positions of the pleats may be altered thus changing the entire fit and hang of the garment and producing an undesirable effect.

In accordance with the present invention, I have produced pleated garments of simple construction which may be readily adjusted to a desired waistband size without altering the fit or hang of the garments or without redesigning the garments.

In general, the garments embodying the present invention are of conventional construction with the exception that additional material from which pleats are to be formed is provided in the front panels and the waistband portion of the garments. Also, differing from the usual construction, the excess material is not stitched into permanent pleats but instead is pleated by an adjustable belt construction which permits considerable variation in the width of the pleats while simultaneously adjusting the waistband of the garment to the desired size.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front view of a typical form of the sides and back of the garment.

garment embodying the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a plan view of a portion ofthe waistband of the garment disclosing details of construction of the same.

As shown in Figure 1, the invention is applied to a pair of trousers I 0, although it will be understood that the garment may be shorts, skirts, bathing trunks or any other type of nether garment. As shown, the trousers have the usual leg portions lea, fly II and a waistband portion generally indicated as I2. At opposite sides of the fly II are fixed short belt straps I3 and I4, the former having a buckle I5, or any other desired type of adjustable connecting device thereon, for cooperation with the strap I4, Theinner ends of the straps I3 and I4 may be secured in any desired way to the garment, such as, for example, by means of stitching I6, so that theyare a fixed part of the garment.

outwardly of the inner ends of the belt straps I3 and I4 are a pair of loops I1 and I8 which are secured to the waistbandportion I2 of the garment. As shown particularly in Figure 2, the loops I! and I8 may be secured to the waistband portion I2 by means of a strip of fabric I9 matching the fabric of the garment I0, having its inner end I9a stitched to the waistband portion I2 of the garment, passed through thefloop II, connected around the sides and back of the garment, through the loop I8 and then having its other end ISb turned back and stitched to the waistband portion I2 of the garment, thereby securing the loops II and I8 in position. If dee sired, the strip I9 need not be extended around It should be noted that the creases 20 in the "garment are adjacent to the forwardmost edges of the waistband straps I9.

The material between the attached ends of the straps and the loops in the waistband portion and in the front panels of the trousers is in excess of normal requirements and is included to form potential pleats of variable size in the front panels of the garments.

Inward movement of the loops I1 and I8 with consequent formation of pleats in the 'front'pa'nel of the garment and decrease in size of the waistband of the garment may be produced by passing the strap I3 through the loop I1, the strap 14 through the loop I8, and drawing the straps together and buckling them in front of the garment as shown in Figure 2. As the straps are drawn up more and more to decrease the size of the waistband, the fabric between the fixed ends of the straps I3 and I4 and the loops I] the pleats.

2 and I8, respectively, in the front of the garment is folded over more and more as shown in Figure 2 to vary the width of the pleats 2| and 22. At the same time, the center portion of the garment between the fixed ends of the belt straps I3 and I4 is drawn out and thus wrinkling of the front of the garment is entirely avoided and alteration of the hang of the garment likewise is minimized. Similarly, since the waistband portion I2 extending around the back of the garment between the loops I! and I8 is unchanged in size, there is no bunching of the material at the sides or in the back, and likewise a i no alteration in the fit of this portion of the garment.

is e

The position of the loops I! and I8 control the location of the pleats. With the loops properly positioned, the pleats will always bear apredetermined relationship to the sides and back of the garment. Thus for example, the pockets will not be shifted in the garment and the pleats are always a fixed distance from the pockets regardless of the adjustment of the straps I3 and I4.

From the preceding description it will be clear that pleated garments may be produced in accordance with the present invention in such a way that size adjustments may be made without alteration of the garment or without displacing Moreover, the amount of work required to produce such garments is greatly decreased and a single pattern may serve for the production of garments which fit individuals of varying size. The present invention therefore lends itself particularly to the manufacture of ready-to-wear or mass-production garments.

It will be understood, of course, that the belt straps I3 and I4 may be of any desired type. For example, they may be made of the same type of material as the garment, in matching or contrasting colors. They may be leather or other material, with buckles or clasps of any desired type, and the loops I1 and I8 of the garment may be of any desired type of material such as metal, plastic, bone and the like, and ofany J desired color or design.

It will be apparent from the above disclosure that constructions embodying the present invention may be applied with equal facility to pleated formal or sportswear of all types, to working garments for either men or women, and, therefore, there is a wide utility for the construction of the present invention. Accordingly, it will be understood that inasmuch as the invention is susceptible to wide modification in its details of construction without departing from the invention, the above described example should be considered as illustrative only and not as limiting the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. .A garment having a leg covering portion, a waistband portion, and means for forming pleats in the front portions of said garment and adjusting the size of said waistband portion by varying the width of said pleats comprising a pair of flexible members having their inner ends fixed in spaced relation to the front of the out- ,side of said waistband portion, loops for receiving said flexible members attached to the ,front of the outside of said waistband portion in spaced relation to the fixed ends of said straps, and means on said flexible members for detachably and adjustably connecting said flexible members to draw said loops inwardly toward the center of the front of the waistband of said garment and form pleats in the material in the front of said garment between said fixed ends of said flexible members and said loops.

2. A garment having a leg covering portion, a waistband portion and means for forming pleats in the front of said garment for adjusting the size of said waistband portion by varying the width of said pleats comprising a first strap having one end secured at one side of the center of the front of the outside of said waistband portion, a second strap having one' end secured at the other side of the center of the front of the outside of said waistband portion in spaced relation to said first strap, loops secured to the front of the outside of said waistband portion in spaced relation to and outwardly of each of secured ends of said straps for slidably receiving said straps, and means on said straps for adjustably connecting them in the front of said waistband to cause the material in the front and the waistband portion of said garment between said straps and the corresponding loops to be formed into pleats upon tightening said straps.

3. A garment having a leg covering portion, a waistband :portion and means for forming pleats of variable sizein the front of said garment and adjusting thesize of said waistband portion by varying the width of said pleats comprising a pair of loops attached in spaced apart relation to the outside of the front of said garment at said waistband portion, a pair of belt straps having their inner'ends spaced apart and attached. to the outside .of said. Waistband portion between said loops and free outer ends adapted to be passed through said loops, and

,means on said straps for adjustably connecting their free ends to permit said straps to be drawn up, thereby pulling said loops toward each other and forming pleats in the material in the. front and in the waistband portion of said garment between said loopsand .the inner ends of said straps. .j.

4. A garment having. a leg covering portion, a. waistband portion, a waistbandstrapextending aroundtheoutside of thesides and back of said waistband portion and'terminating in spaced apart-endsiin the front-of said waistband portion, a loop secured to .each end of said waistband strap, a,-pair of flexible members each having an end secured tothe' outside of .said waistband portion betweensaid. loops, said ends being spaced apart from eachother .and.from said loops and defining areas of excess material adapted to be formed into pleats in the front of said garments between said loops and the corresponding secured ends .of said straps, .and' adjustable connecting means on said members permitting said members ,to-be connected after they 'have'been'passed throughsaid loops, and ad- 

